Currently, material handling systems, such as material handling systems within distribution centers, are designed, modeled, and installed in a manual process. A designer selects the various material handling equipment, such as conveyors, rollers, etc., with which to move material within the distribution center, builds a design model of the selected material handling equipment indicating a type and location of material handling equipment in the distribution center and provides the model to installers who order, assemble, and install the selected material handling equipment in the distribution center according to the model. The model may be created using, for example, computer aided design (“CAD”) software to create a two dimensional or three dimensional design model file. The current process for designing, modeling, and installing material handling systems relies heavily on the designer's ability to indicate the location and type of the material handling equipment correctly. Errors during the design phase in the placement of the material handling equipment and/or the type of material handling equipment in a model may result in numerous problems, such as material not flowing as intended in the installed material handling system, expensive in-field modifications to material handling equipment needing to be made during installation, ordering of the wrong material handling equipment, etc. Additionally, even if a design model is error free, design models do not indicate how material will actually move through a material handling system and do not identify the links (or nodes) between the material handling equipment in the material handling system.